A Prospect Of Whitby
by A Gentleman Of Leisure
Summary: What happens immmediately after 'Chosen? An old friend reappears, and the Slayers commence their travels. The last story in the series titled THE LONG WAY ROUND. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

"A Prospect of Whitby"

by

'A Gentleman Of Leisure'

------------------------------------------

Summary:What happened immediately after 'Chosen'?

Story Type:In canon Buffyverse.

Rating overall:G. (or K+ if you insist)

Spoilers:None, if you've got this far!

Distribution/Archiving:Ask first please.

Disclaimer:No one here belongs to me - I've just borrowed them to play with. All other Patents, Trademarks and Copyrights acknowledged. Thank you.

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Part 1."Close To The Edge".

1.

"Yeah, Buffy. What **are** we going to do now?"

Dawn's older sister gazed out over the sunken wasteland that had, until a few moments ago, been the once merry city of Sunnydale. The massive cloud of dust raised by the ground's sudden collapse now reached high into the sky, and was beginning to disperse and drift slowly away on the warm, mid-morning breeze, revealing more clearly, minute by minute, the vast crater that had appeared in its place. A half smile played over her face, but it wasn't really one of either pleasure or satisfaction, more one of gentle regret for the passing of so many friends, Slayers, and ordinary citizens who she had been unable to save, despite all the efforts she had made.

Someone put a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Buff, we did good. Don't you ever forget that."

"Thanks, Xander. I know we did, but even so..."

"Yeah. Even so... There'll always be 'even so', Buff."

"I guess... Did Anya...?"

Xander shook his head.

"Andrew says she saved his life. Not exactly a good exchange to my way of thinking," he said quietly.

"Understood. But she knew the risks. She could have left us - saved herself like she did at Graduation from High School. She chose not to. That really means something, I reckon, Xander. She still cared enough about you, about all of us, for that."

Xander nodded and looked away over at the scenery for a moment or two.

"Amazing, isn't it, how quickly everything's just gone, vanished without a trace. Tara's grave, your Mom's..." Willow said.

"Home." said Buffy, quietly. "The Doublemeat Palace - won't miss that too much! And all those great, fun spots like Willy's Place and Spike's crypt."

"And Spike." That was Dawn.

"And Spike," Buffy repeated, almost inaudibly, as if only to herself.

"I guess," said Xander, sounding doubtful.

"Well, I for one will miss him," Dawn said. "All those great times he baby-sat with me and told me stories..."

Buffy snorted. "I thought I put a stop to that!"

"Ha! That's what you think, big sister. There were plenty of other times, and other stories you never heard about."

"Colour me astonished," said Buffy quietly, looking at her sister with a half smile. " I'm not so dumb as I look, you know."

"I always knew you were brighter than you thought you were," Giles said from behind them. "In fact I told you as much, more than once, if you recall. At the beginning it was a matter of giving you confidence about yourself, encouraging your self-assurance."

"You know, I think it worked," Willow said. "Kudos to you, Giles!"

Rupert Giles smiled wearily at her. "From what I see, you haven't done so badly yourself, my dear."

"W-with a little help from my friends," she said.

"Special...?" hinted Kennedy.

Willow let her head droop until it rested on the younger woman's shoulder.

"Very..." she acknowledged tiredly, but with her free hand she discreetly reached out to Xander as well, who quietly accepted the offering.

They stood in silence for a little while, each with their own thoughts. The dust cloud thinned slowly, silently. A desert bird started to sing.

The peace was broken abruptly by a shrill whistle from the school bus behind them, still standing half slewed across the road. It was Faith, leaning out of the passenger side door, clinging on with one hand, the first two fingers of her other hand between her lips.

"Hey, move your asses, guys. We got casualties, remember? Medical attention is required. Shake the lead put of your pants and get back over here."

She grabbed hold of Andrew, who was standing close by the door recording the scene with his video camera, dragged him complaining up the steps by the scruff of his neck, and disappeared inside again without waiting for a response.

"How many Slayers did we lose, Giles?" Buffy asked quietly, turning away from the crater that had once been Sunnydale.

He shrugged. "I haven't had a chance to do a head count, but there were a lot of empty seats as we drove out of the town."

Buffy bowed her head for a moment.

"They all knew the risks, and did what they had to do. You trained them well," he said, patting her encouragingly on the back. "Onward and upward, Slayer. We won. Life goes on."

She looked at him and half-smiled.

"And there's still Cleveland, right?" she said, turning back towards the bus.

"About that..." he said as he followed her.

2.

"So, do you think you can use your power, Willow? Robin's pretty badly hurt," Faith said anxiously.

"You should have seen the way she filled up with it - her hair shone absolutely brilliant white, and the room was full of light! I've never seen anything like it," Kennedy said enthusiastically.

"I sincerely hope you never have to again," Willow said soberly. "It was an amazing experience, but not something I ever want to have to do again, at least not any time soon."

"We need to get some of these people to hospital ASAP," Xander said, "Robin and Chloe particularly. Their wounds are pretty serious, and these first aid kits are pretty much useless for those sort of injuries."

"That blast of energy which went through me from the Scythe to make all of the new Slayers - well, I think it's going to take a while for me to recharge. I feel as flat as an English pancake!" Willow said.

Giles glanced at her and smiled. When she'd been in England with the Coven, that had been one of the things she'd taken to - rather different from the sort she was used to, but like enough to remind her of home on those occasions when she needed it.

"Vi, can you give me a hand with this bandage here, if you've a free one?" someone called from back up at the rear of the bus.

"I'm free!" said Andrew.

"Well don't just stand there like a limp lettuce then, make yourself useful," Giles snapped briskly, without even bothering to look round. "There are plenty of other people wanting help with bandaging."

Andrew pulled a face behind his back, and went off towards the back of the bus with an armful of medical supplies, distributing some to each casualty as he went.

Meanwhile, Willow knelt on the seat next to Robin Wood, trying urgently to raise even just a little magic to help control the bleeding, and maybe start to repair his injuries, but after a few minutes she sat back on her heels and shook her head.

"I guess my battery's flat. I'm sorry, Faith, it's no use. It feels like it's gonna take hours, maybe days for me to recharge. I think I really blew the fuse there at the High School."

Faith glared at her, looking seriously upset, but Giles hastily intervened.

"She's done everything she can, Faith. She risked her own life too, getting all that energy from the Scythe. We mustn't ask any more from her for a while. If you think about it, it's a miracle she survived after all she's been through."

"OK, Watcher, but we have to get him to a hospital immediately. And some of the others, too. Where's the nearest?"

Giles looked out uncertainly at their surroundings, trying to remember the map of the area, which, of course, he'd left behind in the rush that morning.

"We seem to have left Sunnydale on the desert road going northeast - I don't know the number. If I remember correctly there's no other road which could take us south towards Oxnard and the nearest big hospital, for at least fifteen or twenty miles."

"Isn't this the road you brought me out on when you wanted to teach me how to do the hokey-cokey with the first Slayer?" Buffy said.

"You know, I think it just might be. Now if we had four-wheel-drive it would be a different matter - we could go directly south-east cross-country, around the edge of the crater and pick up the other desert road, the one the inland buses run along, remember?"

Willow nodded. She did. That had been where she had stopped the southbound L.A. bus when she was in pursuit of Warren, intent on wreaking vengeance on him for the death of Tara. As if she could ever forget!

After a moment Giles noticed her expression, and appeared to realise what he'd just reminded her of, but by then it was too late. He opened his mouth to apologise, but Willow just looked at him ruefully and shook her head.

"It's OK Giles. I know what you mean. We'll just have to drive down this road as fast as we can until we find the turning. Would you like me to drive?"

"I'll drive!" Faith said firmly.

"Hey, you need to stay with Robin. It'll reassure him," said Dawn. "Let me drive!"

"No way are you driving a bus!" Buffy exclaimed in horror. "You haven't even passed 'Driver's Ed' yet."

"I drove Xander's car back to the house when you tried to get rid of me!" Dawn said indignantly. "I did fine. I didn't hit anything!"

"Yeah, right! Only because it was night time so nobody saw you, the roads were practically empty because half of Sunnydale was already abandoned, and there were no cops."

"So?"

"So no way are you driving this bus. You've never even tried driving anything this big before. We'll all end up dead in a ditch!"

"Ladies, ladies," said Giles, raising his voice to a subdued shout to attract their attention. "**I** will drive the bus, while you both help with giving first aid. I will brook no arguments, all right? End of story!"

"Yes, Giles," said two little voices contritely.

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END OF PART 1

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AN1:For purely dramatic purposes I am assuming some very minor differences between the final scenes of 'Chosen', as broadcast, and the start of this story. This does not mean it is an AU story, just that, as it's being told by someone else, there will always be small discrepancies between two people's descriptions of the same event. OK? I do hope so. By the way, Joss Whedon wrote the first line for me! Enjoy.

AGOL (aka 'A Gentleman of Leisure')


	2. Chapter 2

"A Prospect of Whitby"

by

'A Gentleman Of Leisure'

Disclaimer: See Part 1.

-----------------------------------------

Part 2."On The Road Again".

1:

There was a sudden jolt and the bus rocked violently from side to side as if another vehicle had just collided with it. Somebody shrieked, probably Andrew.

"Damn, that was quite an aftershock," Giles exclaimed, grabbing onto the back of a seat to steady himself.

"We're too close to the edge of the crater!" said someone else who was looking out of the back window. "The pavement's cracking up. We've got to get out of this place, like now!"

"OK. Somebody get the bus started! Come on, people, get a wiggle on!" Giles shouted. "MOVE!"

There was a sudden scuffle down at the front to get to the controls, elbows and pushing and shoving, and then Dawn's voice, slightly panicky, asking, "How do I start it up?"

"The starter button!" said Xander firmly. "Down on the floor - step on it! Hard!"

There was a whirring, and for a moment everyone forgot to breathe, and then there was a heavy roar and a crash of gears as someone jammed the gear stick into first and the rear wheels squealed.

The whole vehicle lurched and started to crawl forwards in short jumps like a kangaroo. There was a shriek of "Oh my God!" as the driver yanked hard at the heavy wheel to straighten the bus up and point it down the road, and then they were slowly picking up speed. Everyone suddenly remembered they still needed oxygen.

"Faster, faster!" shouted Andrew.

"Move it! Go, go, go!"

"Change up into second, Dawnie!" Faith shouted urgently.

"How do I do that?" Dawn called back anxiously. "I've never driven stick before!" but good old Xander was there again to point to the clutch pedal. There was another grinding of gears and at last the bus gradually started to accelerate.

"Hey, Buffy! Look at me, I'm driving the bus!" came Dawn's voice again, suddenly far more cheerful.

"We're doomed!" said Giles and Buffy to each other, and then burst out laughing.

2:

"Do we have any more water?" Vi asked. "I've just about used up what I've got in dressing people's injuries."

Andrew passed her a half bottle, telling her to go easy as it was the last one they had.

"This is something we didn't consider," Giles said quietly to Buffy. "I never imagined we'd suddenly find ourselves stuck in the middle of the desert."

"None of us did, Giles, so don't go blaming yourself. No one expected there suddenly to be no Sunnydale, either, and no way to go but inland," she said. "At least there's plenty of gas in the tank. Isn't there?"

He looked round.

"I bloody well hope so. I'm not looking forward to having to walk to Oxnard!"

"Huh! Me neither!"

"I could maybe dowse for water!" Andrew said eagerly. "I've always thought that would be really cool! Everyone parched and croaking out 'Water, water, for God's sake water!', and vultures circling lower and lower, and there I am with my forked stick going to and fro across the sands and stopping and saying 'Dig here!', and up comes clear cool fresh water, just in time to save everyone."

Xander gave him a look, shook his head and turned away.

"You do talk a load of old tosh sometimes, don't you?" said Giles.

-----

A little while later Vi came back up the bus again.

"I'm really rather worried about Robin," she said quietly to Buffy and Giles. "His injuries are bad - some quite deep cuts and stab wounds. He's lost a lot of blood, and of course he can't heal anything like as quickly as a Slayer. Can we try to contact the Ambulance Service in Oxnard and tell them we're coming? Maybe they can send a vehicle out to meet us - it would save a lot of time".

"Very sensible idea, Vi." Giles raised his voice so everyone could hear him. "Has anyone got a cell phone?"

Several of the girls looked at each other and started to dig in bags and pockets.

"No. I guess mine's under ten million tons of rock..."

"So's mine. I didn't think to carry it - didn't imagine I'd need it until we'd either won, or the Apocalypse had finally arrived. And it wouldn't have been much use then, anyway, would it?"

"I think I've still got mine here in my jacket."

Several fancy models were produced and flipped open or otherwise switched on.

There was a short pause while they were being waved about optimistically in various directions, being shaken, their screens scrutinised, and then shaken again.

"Mine's not working."

"Nor mine."

"Neither's mine. It says 'No Signal'."

"So does mine."

It gradually dawned on people that none of them were functioning. Suddenly Giles slapped himself on the forehead.

"Oh, what a fool I am! Of course we're not getting a cell phone signal! We're out of range! We dropped all the Sunnydale phone-masts into a bloody great hole, didn't we?"

Everyone looked at each other and laughed a little sheepishly, embarrassed at not having thought of that.

"And just to really cheer you all up, the radio's not working either," Xander called from the front where he was sitting next to Dawn, keeping an eye on her driving, just in case. "I guess we really did the business."

"Oh well, I suppose we'll just have to keep going for now."

"Keep on keeping on," said Andrew, but no one had the heart to slap him.

3:

"How fast are we going, Giles?"

"About thirty miles an hour, I'd say. Dawn's doing really well, considering, don't you think?"

"She thinks so. Thank god it's a nice straight road," someone else muttered, possibly Buffy.

"How long have we been driving for?" asked Willow.

"About three quarters of an hour."

"Surely we should have reached the turnoff that would take us south to Oxnard by now?"

There was a short silence while everybody did the math.

"I think I'm beginning to get a nasty feeling about this," Giles said.

"You're not the only one," said Buffy under her breath.

The short silence resumed and threatened to become a really long silence. Then...

"What's that up ahead?"

"Yay! It's a gas station. We can fill up and get water - maybe ask for directions."

"Hold on a moment though. Doesn't the place look rather familiar?"

"It's... Oh... My... God! It's the gas station in the middle of the desert where we wrecked the R.V., when we were being chased by the Knights that went 'Nih!', and Glory caught up with us," said Buffy in a horrified tone.

"And captured me!" exclaimed their driver, distracted. The bus abruptly veered across to the other side of the road for a few heart-stopping seconds and then swerved back to resume its proper position on the right. Several people swallowed hard in relief.

"Except that it was us that invited her to come out and help us because we didn't know she was also Ben! Or... or do I mean the other way round?" said Willow.

"Much more important," said Giles slowly, "it also means that we've not just missed the turn for Oxnard, we're on the wrong blasted road altogether. I'd been wondering why we'd seen nobody else as we drove along. This is obviously the reason. We'll have to turn round and go back."

"But Sunnydale will be crawling with National Guard and cops by now," Faith said.

"Maybe the gas station's phone is still working," Willow suggested. "It was before, wasn't it? We could call for help. It would be quicker - they could land a Medivac helicopter almost anywhere they wanted."

"What about me?" Faith sounded a little anxious. "I'm still wanted - I'm an escaped felon, guys. What if someone recognises me?"

"Don't worry, they won't be cops," said Xander. "They'll be Rescue Services. They wouldn't recognise you - and anyway no one'll be looking for you among a group of young women on a school bus. We're just a school party that's fleeing from an earthquake, is all. Plus you've got that cute little fake ID that Willow magicked up for you."

"Hey, yeah! Of course! We're refugees, aren't we? Clever, clever Xander," Willow said.

Then the bus began to slow and everyone looked round.

"Uh, guys," Dawn said, crashing the gearbox again as she changed down into low. "I think someone got there first already - we've got company!"

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END OF PART 2.

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	3. Chapter 3

"A Prospect of Whitby"

by

'A Gentleman Of Leisure'.

Disclaimer: See Part 1.

-----------------------------------------

Part 3."Pictures Of An Expedition".

"Mind that kid!"

"Oh my God!" Dawn shrieked.

There right in front of them was a little girl on a pogo stick, determinedly bouncing her way down the middle of the road.

Xander grabbed at the steering wheel, and he and Dawn dragged hard on it. The bus swerved violently to the right to avoid the child, bounced heavily into the ditch beside the road, stalled, and stopped dead in a great cloud of dust.

For a moment there was a silence so intense that people could hear the blood rushing through their own veins.

"Did we miss her?"

Dawn stuck her head out of the driver's side window, and there, oblivious to the world, was the little girl still bouncing along. She could be heard counting to herself.

"Nine hunerd'n'one, nine hunerd'n'two, nine hunerd'n'three..."

"Yup. Safe in a world of her own," said Dawn.

"Thank the Lord for that," said Giles, picking himself up from the aisle and rubbing a bruised elbow.

"See, Buffy? I can drive," and Dawn stuck her tongue out at her older sister, who just sighed and ignored her.

-----

"Whoa! Look at all those vehicles. They look kinda official, doncha think?" Faith said.

"I'll go and find out," said Giles. "It might be just as well it you stayed in the background for now. In fact, everybody stay on the bus until I find out who they are."

"There are some initials on the side of that Humvee, there. Anyone know what USGS stands for?" Buffy asked.

"United States Geological Survey." To their surprise it was Vi who answered. "I was thinking of studying to be a geologist before I came to Sunnydale. I'd like to come with, please Giles. OK?"

"Certainly," Giles said. "They're bound to ask questions, and it'll be useful to have someone who can give a coherent description of what we saw of the destruction of Sunnydale without telling them anything they shouldn't know about."

"Great! I'm coming too!" Andrew announced. "Come on Giles, I should document this event!"

Buffy scowled at him, but to her surprise Xander said, "Oh, let him go too, him and his bloody camcorder. Anything to get the annoying little monkey out of our hair for a few minutes!"

"If he's coming, so am I!" Dawn announced. "I've been sitting at the wheel for hours, seems like. My butt feels like it's completely flat, and I'm a little stiff."

"I'm glad you're not 'a stiff'," Giles quipped, to his own and everyone's surprise.

And so the Sunnydale survivors met an intrigued group of geologists in front of the gas pumps, halfway between the bus and their own shiny new vehicles which were parked just the far side of the gas station.

"Hi. Anybody hurt?" was their first question. "That was a rough stop."

"Where are you from?" someone else asked.

"Who are you?"

And "I told Mindy to watch out for traffic if she wanted to play on the road. She knows that. I'm real sorry you went in the ditch - we can tow you out, fix you up if needs be." That was an anxious looking man in dusty dungarees, apparently the proprietor of the gas station.

"Um, no, no one was hurt when we stopped, but, yes, we do need medical assistance for some of our passengers," Giles said, trying to take their questions in some sort of order. "We've just come from Sunnydale."

"Sunnydale?" A large-scale map was pushed towards him and he saw the familiar shape of the infamous town. "There? We just registered a massive shock there, very close to the surface, about an hour ago. We'd been recording measurements of ground movement in this whole area over the past week, and then suddenly BAM!

"We were just starting to pack up - getting ready to head straight over there to investigate. Did you see anything of it?"

"Did we? We certainly did! We were right in the middle of the town when it happened. It was at least a strength eight event. We only just made it out in time!" Vi told them.

"My! You were very, very lucky then! How much damage was there, do you know?"

The girls glanced over at Giles, who shrugged and then nodded slightly. They all turned back to the USGS team.

Dawn looked at them.

"Sunnydale? Oh, that old place," she said casually. "You won't find anything there now. It's gone."

"What? The whole town totally flattened?" the senior geologist asked blankly.

"No, gone, as in 'gone' - not there any more," Vi replied. "When she said gone she meant COMPLETELY GONE. There's absolutely nothing left - even the ground's gone."

"There's just a great big hole big enough to drop a town into, about yay deep and maybe five miles across. That is, if there was still a town. Which there isn't. Not any more. Like she said, we just got out in time," Dawn told them.

"A HOLE??"

"Yup. Deep, deep hole. Yay deep. Maybe half a mile?"

Jaws dropped.

"She's right. There's just a huge hole there - about five miles across, and yay deep..." said Buffy, spreading her arms out wide, as if trying to show the size of a fish that got away.

"Looks a bit like the Grand Canyon!" Andrew put in cheerfully. "I've got some video."

The geologists looked in astonishment at each of them in turn, finishing with Giles.

"She's not wrong," he told them. "My eyesight's reasonable for a man of my age, but if the girls say it was half a mile deep, then I'd tend to go with that, at least in the centre. It was certainly getting on for five miles across, from the near edge to the far one - it must have been at least that because that's roughly how big the town was. There really isn't a single trace of it left."

"But that's utterly impossible!" one of the geologists blurted in obvious disbelief.

"Anything's possible in Sunnydale," said Giles wryly.

"Or was," Buffy corrected him. "It's gone now..."

"...And so far as we're concerned, good riddance!" Giles finished for her, and his four companions all nodded, to the surprise of the geologists. "Now, we have several people who were quite badly hurt when we were leaving. At least two of them really need hospital treatment as soon as possible."

"I've got some paramedic training - it's come in handy in the job a few times before now," one of the geologists volunteered. "I'll go get my first aid kit and you can show me the casualties." He turned to one of the others.

"John, can you get on the satellite phone and see if you can call in a Medivac chopper to evacuate them?"

The other nodded and walked quickly away, back towards the parked vehicles.

"Give us a minute and we'll be right with you, sir," he called back over his shoulder.

A couple of minutes later Giles was ushering the young geologist up the steps into the bus, which remained at a slight angle, with one wheel still stuck in the ditch despite Xander's best efforts to back it out onto the blacktop again. A second, older, person from among the USGS group followed them.

"Perhaps I can lend a hand too," he offered. "I used to be quite good at bandaging, once upon a time - in another life, so-to-speak."

Giles looked up, surprised.

"English?"

"Not exactly," said the other, "though I do seem to manage to get over there on a fairly regular basis."

He tossed his broad-brimmed hat onto an empty seat, revealing a head of curly brown hair, and a broad, cheerful smile composed of teeth the size of a horse's.

"I suppose I can always use my scarf as a sling if necessary. Any broken arms here, ladies?"

"This is Robin," Faith told them. "He was hurt worst."

The geologist cautiously lifted the corner of the makeshift field dressing and stopped.

"Is this a stab wound? This looks like a stab wound," he said, sounding shocked. He looked round at the others ranged in the seats up the aisle, noting all the bloody bandages, and the tired and still dazed faces on the young Slayers. He stood up to go and check on one or two of them and his foot kicked against something under the seat. He glanced down and was astounded to see a sword. Under another seat was another, and an axe. Behind his back, Buffy hastily looked round for the Scythe. She couldn't see it, and supposed someone had already put it away for her, out of sight in one of the Weapons bags.

"How did you get all these injuries? Was there some sort of a riot?"

"You could say that," said Giles. "We... er... we certainly had to fight our way out."

"Fight your way out? What in the hell happened? Who did you have to fight?"

"There were all these people, a large gang I suppose you would have to call them, who wanted to stop us from getting on the bus," Xander said. "We weren't going to let them."

"It all got pretty nasty," Faith said. "We were, like, seriously outnumbered, bro."

"Was anybody killed?"

"Yes. We lost seven of the girls, plus two other first rate friends," said Giles quietly. "But we gave as good as we got."

"Ha! As good?" exclaimed Buffy, fiercely. "Better! Much, much better!"

"You got that right, B!" said Faith.

"Jesus! You lost nine people killed?"

Appalled, the geologist looked round again in disbelief at all the passengers on the bus and their bleak expressions, and for the first time in several years in the job he felt himself to be well out of his depth.

"What about the other people? The people you had to fight? What happened to them?" he asked cautiously.

"Dust!" said Faith with grim relish.

-----

Andrew, meanwhile, was in his element - he was the centre of attention. He had all the other geologists clustered round him looking at the little viewfinder screen of his camcorder which he was resting on the hood of a Humvee in the shade of the gas station buildings.

"This is the crater after we stopped. That's Mr Giles right near the edge, and those are Buffy and Dawn, Willow, and Xander. And that's Willow's girlfriend Kennedy."

"I can't believe it! Look at the size of the damned thing!"

"Could you see the bottom?"

"Oh, no, not really. There was all this dust everywhere," said Andrew, "but it looked really deep. I didn't like to get too close."

"I don't blame you!" someone said.

"The road looks exactly as if it's been snapped off. See how it just stops dead in a straight line? How can that be?" someone else asked. "

The image on the screen wobbled suddenly.

"Hey, look! Aftershock! Jeez, look at that crack open up in the road surface!"

At that point there was a blur and the recording ended.

"Wow! That is truly remarkable, Andrew!"

"Absolutely. I've never seen a piece of video like it!"

"Oh, it's nothing," said the hero modestly. "One just has to be ready for the unexpected."

"Did you get anything as you were leaving the town?"

"Oh, yeah! You've gotta see this. It is really amazing!" He pressed the rewind button and let it go back to the start of the tape, which didn't take long. "I'm inside the bus, of course, looking over Dawn's shoulder."

Everyone gasped as the image came up, blurred and shaky, of the centre of Sunnydale collapsing behind the bus, the ground crumbling away, looking almost as if was actually trying to overtake and engulf them.

"What's she looking at?" someone said, and they could see that Dawn was straining to see something up and to her left. The camera panned up to look, and there was a small running figure leaping from one rooftop to the next, desperately trying to catch up with the bus.

"Holy cow! Who the hell is that?"

"Oh, that's Buffy. Isn't she incredible? She's...OW!"

His ear had just been grabbed from behind and twisted hard to interrupt him. Then, like a striking snake, someone reached over his shoulder to snatch the camcorder out of his hand and flip the screen shut, terminating the playback.

"Ow! What did you do that for? That hurt!" Andrew protested, rubbing the injured part, looking round to see who it was.

"I think that's quite enough of that for now, you little pest," said the girl.

----------------------------

END OF PART 3

----------------------------

AN1:Acknowledgements to Don Sample's 'Buffy Body Count' website for technical details of Slayer numbers and deaths.


	4. Chapter 4

"A Prospect of Whitby".

by

'A Gentleman Of Leisure'.

Disclaimer: See Part 1.

-----------------------------------------

Part 4.'The Long Way Round'.

People looked up in surprise as a strange brown haired girl dragged a vociferously protesting Andrew up the steps of the bus.

"Ow! Leggo! Help! Help! She's tearing my ear off!"

The girl handed his camcorder to the nearest person, who happened to be Giles.

"He was showing the scientists his video of Sunnydale collapsing," she said, "including a nice dramatic shot of Buffy running along the rooftops. I didn't think that was such a very good idea."

She turned to Buffy.

"And what," she continued, "is he doing with you guys? You don't want to have anything to do with him, surely - you know he's a friend of Warren's, don't you?"

"Er, excuse me," said Giles, passing the camcorder on to someone else, "but who are you? You're not one of our group. Are you with the USGS people?"

"No, of course not..."

"And how do you know about Warren Mears?" said Xander. "Who is very dead, by the way."

"And good riddance!" said Kennedy, putting an arm round Willow, who had suddenly gone rigid at the mention of Warren's name.

"Oh, I agree. He was a... er..."

"Unladylike adjective? Expletive deleted?"

"Exactly. Thank you, Mr Giles. May I ask what happened to him?"

"He killed someone - one of us," Buffy said, "someone very special. Why? Did you know him?"

"Did he? I'm sorry. It wasn't his first time though, was it?"

"What? You know about that?" Buffy said in surprise. "How?"

"He came to a very nasty end," said Xander quietly, actually answering the girl's question.

"Good!" said the girl, firmly. "Just exactly what he deserved."

"What did he do to you, then?" Willow asked, but the girl didn't answer her directly. Instead she looked round the group.

"Who was it? Who did he kill? And when? I can see that several people who used to be with the Scoobies are not here, but there are a lot more of you now who I don't recognise."

She looked at Willow and seemed to study her expression for a moment.

"Oh. Oh, I see. It was Tara, wasn't it? I should have realised immediately. I'm so sorry, Willow."

She leaned forwards and touched Willow very gently on the arm. Xander tried to stop her, to hold her back, but somehow he found himself being irresistibly moved aside.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, confused.

"Just a minute please. Who **are** you?" Giles said again. "You seem to know a lot about us, but we don't really know anything about you yet."

"No, that's true," the girl said. "And yet it's not true either. I was here, well, in Sunnydale, but I've been away for a couple of years," she added nonchalantly. "Travelling. Seeing the worlds - you know the sort of thing."

She turned to Buffy who looked tired and drawn, and smiled.

"I'm so glad you weren't dead after all, Slayer. You know, I thought I saw you that night, but I wasn't in good shape, so I was never absolutely sure. I guess you really dealt with those motorcycle demons once you returned. Was that some of Willow's magic then, bringing you back? Pretty neat."

Stunned into silence, everyone looked at her in astonishment.

"How in the hell did you know about all that?" said Xander hoarsely.

"Wait, wait!" Dawn elbowed her way through to the front of the group and peered at the girl with brown hair, examining her face closely. After a moment she started to smile, a big broad smile, the sort of smile that says 'I know something you-all don't know'.

"You've changed - a whole lot!" she said. "You don't even seem to talk the way you used to any more! You're like... it's as if you're a real person now!"

"Hello, Dawnie, dear. Guess you're right. And so have you changed too. Must be a good six to eight inches, right?" Then, to everyone's amazement the two of them put their arms round each other and hugged, patting each other gently on the back.

"Oh, I was sure you were dead!"

"Live and kicking, Buffy's little sister!"

"But how? I saw you there on the ground torn into pieces, and then you said you'd seen Buffy, and I ran off to look for her. I'm so sorry we just left you, and forgot about you, even."

"It's OK."

"What happened to you?"

"Long story."

"Two years long?"

"Who knows - maybe a lot longer. Be shorter in the telling, I expect. I had some help, of course."

"Of course. How else? Rescued by a knight in shining armour?"

"Close. No armour, just a long scarf and a big floppy hat, but he's a dab hand with a screwdriver."

"Huh?"

"Would someone please, please like to tell me what on earth they're talking about?" Giles asked plaintively.

"Seconded," Xander said.

"Thirded," said Willow.

"Oh, hold on. Hold on. I think I got it," Faith said. "I think I've just figured out who you are. Or were. Did we ever meet? I forget."

"Do you really not know who she is?" Dawn asked. "Come on, guys. She may have changed her appearance, but she knows all about us. How difficult can it really be? She simply had a makeover is all."

"A makeover?" Xander echoed.

"Yes. Look," and she reached up and pushed the girl's long wavy brown hair back from her face.

"I think they've found you out, Bibi," said a voice from the back of the bus, and the older man they'd supposed was from the USGS group turned round briefly and waved to her.

"Bibi? Is that your name?" asked Giles, still sounding confused. "We never knew anyone by that name did we?"

Dawn laughed.

"Not Bibi, Giles. B.B.! Get it? Just look at her - she's the Buffybot!"

There was another moment of dumbfounded silence. Then...

"What?! But... Holy cow! It's impossible!" Xander exclaimed. "I thought you said she was destroyed - torn to pieces."

"She was, at least it looked like she was, but..."

"Oh, I certainly was, but hey! I'm ba-ack! And a lot's happened to me since then!"

"Botty? Is that really you?" said Willow quietly, uncertainly, and the Bot patted her on the arm again, to reassure her.

"No way. You're kidding, right? You really are the Buffybot?" Buffy asked, suspiciously. "Can you prove it?"

"Sure I can. How about I tell you why I was made in the first place? And who for, and who by! Would you like me to whisper it in your ear?"

Giles took off his glasses and polished them vigorously, put them back on and examined the Bot's face closely.

"She doesn't look much like me," muttered Buffy, still sounding disbelieving. "How's she going to really prove she's what she says she is?"

Giles put a hand on her shoulder.

"Of course she'll be able to prove it, if she's the real thing, but I think perhaps not within earshot of all our good, kind, helpful friends outside? Hm?"

-----

"So you've been travelling?"

"Ha! You'd better believe it. I've seen things and been to places you wouldn't believe!"

"And who fixed you?"

"That's right," the Buffybot said confusingly, with a smile. "Of course he had some help from an even more advanced robot than I am now. It's complicated - you see I really don't think I should say too much about where I've been, or when. Or how."

"Why on earth not?" Xander asked. "You're just creating more questions than you're answering."

"Because I don't want to risk causing a chronoclasm," she said, as if that explained everything.

"What the whichy-what is that? Giles, do you have any idea what she's talking about?"

Rupert Giles looked at her, then at Xander, and then shrugged.

"Not the faintest idea, I'm afraid. I have to admit I'm completely out of my depth with anything scientific. That sort of thing has always been Willow's department. So far as I'm concerned, scientific terminology is like an alien language to me."

"Oh, it is English," said the voice from the near the back of the bus. The original Scoobies, and Faith, were now in a close huddle, trying to keep their voices down so as to avoid disturbing the casualties, who were waiting for the arrival of a Medivac helicopter to pick up the two most seriously injured Scoobies - Robin Wood and Rhona.

"It is English?" Giles frowned and thought for a moment. "Chrono? Oh, you mean as in chronometer, from 'chronos' the Greek for 'Time'?" He looked over at the speaker thoughtfully.

"Would you care to come and join us, sir?"

"Delighted, Mr Giles. Thank you. I've heard so much about you all from B.B. here, that it's almost as if I know everyone already."

The Buffybot drew him into the circle.

"It's funny," said Xander, "but I could swear I've met you somewhere before. I just can't quite figure out where."

"You know, I've been thinking that, too. You seem strangely familiar," said Giles.

"Is it important?"

Xander shook his head doubtfully, still puzzled.

"So you must know a whole lot about robotics, then?" Buffy said. "You and Willow would have a lot to talk about."

"Oh, Marvin was the real expert. The two of them reassembled me in the first place, and gave me my first upgrade," said the Buffybot.

"Marvin?" murmured Xander to himself.

"And after that there was no stopping the girl, was there, my dear? I've never seen anyone like her, you know. She's not really a robot now - an android perhaps, but even that scarcely applies any more, does it?" the man said.

"You know, you and Giles sound very alike - very British. But you said before that you aren't," Buffy commented.

"I have visited there a number of times. London seems to be a favoured destination of mine for some inexplicable reason," he added with an enigmatic smile.

"And the Bot - sorry, B.B. - seems to have started to sound like you. And Giles. Both. If you see what I mean."

"Not really surprising, though, is it? We've been travelling together for some little time now."

"I'll soon get my American accent and speech pattern back now I'm home, Buffy. Don't worry," said the Buffybot, "you'll see. I'll be just like a sister..."

"Oh, God! Not another one!" Buffy exclaimed, aghast, and everyone fell about laughing.

-----

"Well, if you can't tell us where you've been, for chronological, excuse me, I mean 'chronoclasmic' reasons, can you at least tell us where you were going?" Giles asked.

"Well, sure - home, of course" said the Buffybot simply. "I am - I was - going home. Though I suppose you could say I seem to have taken the long way round. Sorry, private joke," she added.

"Well, at least, I was taking her home," said her companion, "but when we arrived there was nothing there."

"Just a bloody great big hole, with this vast dust cloud hanging over it."

"And away down the road in the far distance, a yellow school bus doing a runner as fast as it could go. Very sensible, in the circumstances - in fact precisely what we did too. We didn't wait around to admire the view either." He smiled. "I take it that was this bus carrying you and your young friends, Mr Giles?"

"Well, I suppose so. You must have just missed us, but I don't understand how we failed to see you," said Giles, now sounding even more confused.

"There definitely wasn't anyone else there. We were absolutely the very last people out of Sunnydale. How can you have been at the crater? It's not possible - we'd have seen you for sure," Buffy said aggressively.

"I can prove it," said the Bot. "You dropped something. I suppose it probably got left behind in your rush to get away when the crater lip started to collapse with the aftershocks. I'd say we arrived about two minutes later."

The Scoobies all looked at each other, surprised. How was that possible?

Then Willow said hesitantly, "B-Buffy! W-where's the Scythe?"

Buffy's jaw dropped. "I was carrying it. Wasn't I? When I jumped down off the roof of the bus?"

"I don't remember seeing it, B.," said Faith, dubiously.

"Me neither," Willow said, and Xander and Kennedy both shrugged and shook their heads.

"You could check my video footage," said Andrew sulkily from the back of the group, but of course no one took any notice of him.

"Nothing sharp around when I hugged you, Buf," said Dawn.

Buffy's expression was rapidly becoming a picture of anguish.

"NO! I can't have left it behind! I don't believe it! Oh my God! I must have left it on the roof, and then when we drove away it fell off into the road. Giles, we've gotta go back and look for it! Now!"

"Slow down, Buffy. You know we can't. Anyway it'll be too late by now - the road was already cracking up with the aftershocks. I'm afraid the Scythe will be long gone," said Giles. He sighed. "Maybe it was meant to happen this way - after all, it had done its job".

"But we can't just leave it. It'll be buried in the debris, or fall into a crack in the ground and be lost for another five thousand years!"

"Buffy, if that's what's meant to happen, then by this time it almost certainly has already."

"But what if someone else finds it?"

"Er... excuse me. How big was this Scythe thing? What did it look like?" asked the Buffybot casually.

"Actually it was really like a rather ornate hand axe with a long wooden haft ending in a sharp spike," said Giles, ever precise as usual.

"Oh!" The Buffybot swung her shoulder bag down onto her knee and unzipped it. "Do you mean this?"

------------------

END OF PART 4.

------------------

AN1: To understand the chronology of events it is necessary at this point to read my story 'Last Bus From Sunnydale'.


	5. Chapter 5

"A Prospect of Whitby".

by

'A Gentleman Of Leisure'.

Disclaimer: See Part 1.

-----------------------------------------

Part 5."The Prospect of Whitby".

Dust swirled up around them again as the National Guard Medivac helicopter heaved itself up off the ground and clattered away into a cloudless blue sky so perfect it should have been in an art gallery. It was heading south in the direction of Oxnard, about 45 miles away. The casualties would be safe and comfortable in hospital beds in a lot less than an hour.

A small group of people standing watching waved at the faces peering down at them from a small window in the rear of the fuselage as it receded into the distance and became a dark speck, hard to see against the midday sun.

"Why did you send some of the new Slayers to accompany the casualties?"

"Security," said Giles. "I've asked them to act as a sort of diversion for the rest of us - be 'the survivors of the Great Sunnydale Earthquake' sort of thing. The news media can be very persistent - they might be a problem. We may still have trouble with them ourselves, even so.

"I also took the precaution of getting the USGS people to make a couple of copies of Andrew's videotape - one for Faith to take with her which she can sell to the TV stations, which should go down well, and one for the geologists to study, on the understanding they don't own the copyright, and can't sell it on."

"So Andrew has had his uses after all?" Kennedy said, surprised.

"I regret to admit that he has," said Giles. His expression of mild distaste was eloquent.

"Are you sure they'll be OK?" said Willow.

"Of course they will. They're Slayers. And they have Faith." He smiled to himself at his own unintended pun.

"So that's that, I suppose," said Buffy, then turned her head to one side and spat on the ground. "'Scuse me, I got a mouthful of sand blown at me by that machine."

"Me too, and my ears are still ringing as well."

"Better answer them, Giles. You never know who might be calling," said Xander.

"Hardy, har, har," said Willow.

Giles spat on the ground too, almost as if to keep his Slayer company.

"So what else were you talking to Faith about?"

"Oh, nothing much," he replied. "Among other things I was just making sure she had the new Watchers' Council phone number in England. For the moment it might be the only way we can all communicate with each other. That and e-mail."

"I'll have to get a new laptop first," said Willow. "At least I remembered to bring the hard drive of the old one with me. I couldn't abandon that - it has all my favorites and addresses stored on it. Plus other private stuff."

"I guess most of us have not much more than what we're wearing, plus a change of clothes if we're lucky."

"Unfortunately some of us were too busy to remember the change of clothes," said Xander.

"I did wonder," said Dawn, who had thoughtfully placed herself upwind of him.

"Oh dear. Well I hope you at least all remembered to bring your personal documents," said Giles.

"What, you mean ID's, birth certificates, credit cards and passports? S'about all I did bring," said Buffy. "Apart from the weapons. And Mr Gordo of course."

"Oh, Buffy! You didn't! Not really?" Dawn said.

"Well sure I did. He couldn't exactly escape from Sunnydale all on his own, now could he?"

"What about you, Giles? Did you manage to save any of your books? Just a precious few?" Willow asked.

"I took the precaution of having almost all of them shipped back to England by UPS more than a week ago, particularly the most valuable ones. Didn't I tell you? I got a phone call from Robinson in London the day before yesterday to say they'd all arrived safely, thank you." He even managed to sound just a tiny bit smug about it.

"Which ones did you keep, then?" Buffy wanted to know.

"Just a few useful little ones, like er... 'Agol's Compendium of Magical Weapons, Devices and Ephemera', and a small handful of others. Merely what I could carry in my hand luggage. They're stuffed into a briefcase under the seats at the back of the bus, where they're out of the way." He paused. "Actually, I don't even remember when I last had need to refer to 'Agol's Compendium', but you never know when something like that may come in handy." AN:1

He patted his pockets, then added "and my ID and passport and green card are safe on my person."

"Well I was sewing my documents into my jacket lining at three o'clock this morning, just to be on the safe side. Though, as we all know, they're not real," said Dawn, and laughed.

"They're as real as you are, no more and certainly no less," Giles reminded her, putting a reassuring arm round her for a moment. She smiled at him and rested her head on his shoulder briefly, and then sprang away and started spinning round like a whirling dervish, leaping up and down like the little girl on the pogo stick, waving her hands in the air and shrieking and whooping at the top of her voice.

"What's got into you? Ants in your pants?" said Buffy in surprise.

Dawn stopped dead in her tracks, facing her sister.

"No! Don't you realise? We're finally free of Sunnydale. It's gone - the town is gone! All its darkness and angst and blood and pain and anguish - it's finished, done with, ended. The Hellmouth is closed, gone out of business. It's over, it's all, all over!"

She paused, panting, looking intently at her companions. "Don't you see? We survived! We can go anywhere, now. Do anything! Absolutely anything at all!"

There were several seconds of sudden intense silence while everyone present absorbed this statement, but were also remembering those who were absent, who had not made it out of Sunnydale.

"You know what? She's right - Sunnydale is dead and buried. Literally. 'Bereft of life, it rests in peace!'" said Xander unexpectedly.

"Yes. Yes! Absolutely!" exclaimed Giles. He glanced round at them all. "All together now...?", he said, grinning broadly, despite himself. They all looked at each other for a moment. Then...

"It is an Ex-Town!" they all bellowed at the tops of their voices.

Suddenly, to the amazement of the bemused group of watching USGS geologists, who'd paused in their urgent preparations for departure in the direction of the remains of Sunnydale to watch the helicopter take off, they were all leaping about, waving their arms in the air, spinning round on the tips of their toes like humming tops, and running about in circles tagging each other like a game of catch-as-catch-can, and all the while screaming their heads off. Even Giles! There was so much noise that the remaining new Young Slayers came rushing over to find out what on Earth was up, and then join in!

-----

Sitting in a large circle in the sunshine, they rested and got their breath back.

"Woo, that was fun!" said Buffy.

"Yes, I really needed that, too," said Giles. "It's nice to be uninhibited for a change - to be able to unwind and let your hair down once in a while."

"Hair? What hair?" Xander asked Willow quietly.

"Hair today, gone tomorrow!" she murmured back to him with a slight shrug, a raised eyebrow and a sly smile.

"I never thought I would ever see **you** being silly, Giles," Buffy said.

"Me neither," Willow agreed, and Kennedy nodded too.

"My dear young ladies, even though at your age you might not be able to imagine it, inside almost every boring middle-aged man there is a much younger one still trying to get out. Don't ever forget that! You mustn't be deceived by the tweed jacket!"

"Yes, but... I mean... English people don't really do things like that, surely?" said Vi.

"They most certainly do! Didn't I ever tell you I was once the bass player in a punk band?

"And how about 'Monty Python'," he continued, "'The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy', The Edinburgh Fringe, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, before they came to America at any rate. Doctor Who, the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, even the Sex Pistols. The list is endless - need I go on?"

He paused a moment and repeated, half to himself "Doctor Who?" then shook himself. "All English, or British at any rate."

"I suppose..." Willow said, still doubtful.

"And the Bay City Rollers?" said Buffy wickedly.

"Oh, well er... yes. I think perhaps the least said about them the better," Giles admitted, looking a trifle embarrassed. "Anyway, they were Scottish!"

-----

"What's that noise?"

From somewhere out of sight behind the gas station buildings a faint, peculiar, rhythmical, mechanical, metallic grating, grinding sound could be heard.

"That sounds strangely familiar," Giles said thoughtfully. He sounded puzzled. "Where have I heard it before?"

"Someone fixing something, most like. Though I feel as if I'd heard it before too. It's like I thought I'd seen that friend of the Bot's somewhere," said Xander. "And that's another strange thing - did anyone catch his name?"

"No, she didn't really introduce him," Dawn said.

"And he didn't actually introduce himself either," Buffy said. "He just sort of wandered in. We all assumed he was one of the geologists." She sat up and looked round at the others. "Kinda weird that, don't you think?"

"Not necessarily," said Giles. "Some people are just very self-effacing."

"He didn't exactly sound self-effacing," Xander said.

"He didn't look self-effacing," said Willow.

"Not with that big floppy hat and several yards of scarf. In summer! You'd certainly pick him out in a crowd, no doubt of that!" said Buffy.

"Hat and scarf?" Xander echoed, and suddenly scrambled to his feet. "Did anyone see where he went?"

"Out back, past the workshop there with Botty, just a little while before the helicopter left, I think," said Dawn. "Why?"

"I just had a thought. Probably nothing to it. I think I'll just go and look for him. I'd like to ask him something."

"You know, I think I'll come with you," Giles said unexpectedly, also rising swiftly, and the rest of them watched as the two walked briskly away out of sight together.

"What was that all about, d'you s'pose?" Willow said.

Buffy shrugged.

"Who knows? You know them. It's probably just a guy thing." She lay down in the sun again, and closed her eyes.

"I guess," said Willow, yawned, and stretched herself out between her friends.

-----

Buffy came awake suddenly as someone touched her lightly on the arm. Dawn was leaning over her, and the sun had moved round a bit since she had last looked.

"Woof! How long was I asleep?"

"'Bout an hour. Giles said to 'leave you be' as he called it - and not to disturb you until we had to."

"What's happening?"

"We've been getting ready to move, to drive on. We've bought up enough bottles of water, and juice and coke and food and stuff to keep us all going for at least a couple of days. We've almost wiped out the gas station's entire stock of candy bars as well, and topped up the fuel tank right to the filler cap. He's got something planned, I think."

"Hm. Sounds like, doesn't it?"

Buffy got to her feet in one smooth movement, and stretched like a cat or a mountain lion, one limb at a time.

"Right! Now I feel ready for anything."

"Did you dream while you were asleep?"

Buffy thought for a moment, trying to remember.

"Oh. Yes, I did. About Spike, actually. About leaving him. It wasn't sad, though - he was happy, laughing." She looked away westwards at the horizon for a moment, and then turned back to her sister, smiling. "At the end he did what he wanted. He was what he wanted to be - my knight in shining armour."

"Then I guess you could say he 'brought the house down', as he would have called it," Dawn said.

"Really? I don't remember him ever using that phrase. I suppose that what with all the babysitting and stuff, you and he talked about a lot of things I never got to hear about."

"I never hid things from you, Buffy, well except for little things like the kleptomania, and the would-be vampire boyfriend in Makeout Park of course."

"And one or two other things that you'll think of later and probably forget to remember to tell me about," Buffy said, amused. "'S OK. We all have our private secrets."

She looked round. Giles and Xander and Andrew were deep in discussion a short distance away, with the Buffybot sitting on the bottom step of the bus watching them, and looking highly amused.

"What's going on over there?"

"That Doctor guy left without saying goodbye to anyone except Bibi, and she won't tell them how he went, just that he wasn't one of the geologists."

"He wasn't? Well, who was he?"

"Those are the exact words I used, and she just said 'Yes, that's right.'"

"Huh? What?"

"Just what I said. I asked 'Who was he?', and she just said 'Yes, that's right', just exactly like that. It made no sense that I could see."

Buffy frowned.

"Do you suppose there's something wrong with her?"

"Not a chance," said Willow, who'd come over to join them now she could see Buffy had woken up. "She's changed, Buff. You could see that - that's why you didn't recognise her. This is a totally different Buffybot to the one we remember. I don't mean she's not the same one, but she's not the simple Bot we once knew and loved. When she said she'd had an upgrade she **really** meant it. It's almost like she's a real person now."

Buffy looked at her friend in surprise.

"Seriously?"

"I've had a chance to talk with her for a bit, while we were getting the stores on board the bus. She's brighter than I am, Buffy. She almost scares me."

"So I guess this Doctor guy was an expert robotist or whatever you call them, and he rebuilt her."

"No. Actually she said there was another robot called Marvin, who did most of the work, and was far more intelligent than she is, but she won't say any more than that."

"Another one? You think she's joshing you?"

"Giles thinks she's 'winding us up' as he calls it, so she can hide the truth."

"And what do you think the truth is?"

Willow shrugged. "She's been fixed by some sort of an expert, a real genius, and the only other person who knows has gone without saying goodbye."

Buffy turned to her Watcher, who'd just joined them, in company with the other two male members of the expedition.

"Giles! Hi! Do you really think this Doctor guy was the one who fixed her?"

"I do."

"But who is he?"

"Exactly," said Giles, confusingly.

"Oh, Geez, not you too," Willow exclaimed.

"Sorry," said Giles, "but that's the only answer I can give. He wasn't a roboticist, apparently - the Bot, sorry, Bibi says he called himself a 'Doctor of Temporal Physics'."

"And he was right here, **here**, in the flesh and talking to us..." said Xander.

"...And we didn't recognise him until it was too late!" Andrew sounded absolutely furious.

"What? You sound like know who he was!" Buffy said, confused.

"We think we do," said Giles, "except that of course it couldn't really have been, because he doesn't actually exist."

"It might have been someone pretending to be him."

"No, Xander, we all heard the sound of him leaving," Andrew argued. "It has to be him."

"But only the Buffybot knows, and she's not telling!" Xander said exasperatedly.

"She saw us leaving the crater, and she picked up the Scythe. You can't get past that fact!" Giles said. "And the gas station owner swears they turned up here two and a half hours **ahead** of us. That's a short while before we even drove to the High School this morning. What more do you want?"

Buffy looked from one to another of them, then at Willow, and shook her head.

"What have they been smoking, Will?"

"No, Buffy, they've been like this for an hour, at least."

"Round and round in little bloody circles," Giles said in agreement. "Only the Buffybot knows for certain, and she aint sayin' nuffin'."

"Perhaps we should dismantle her to see if there's something wrong with her," Andrew suggested brightly.

Buffy gave him a look that would have stripped paint at forty yards.

"You touch her, and I swear I'll let her tear your arms and legs off, and we'll leave you here!" she said. "And I'll help!"

-----

"All aboard that's going aboard," said Giles, in unconscious imitation of the Doctor a few hours earlier. "Non-stop to all points East! Hurry along there, please!"

"He'd have made a good conductor, wouldn't he?" said Vi admiringly.

"Where are we going? Anyone know?"

"Sure. Cleveland. Ohio."

"Hi ho, hi ho, we're off to Ohio!" sang Dawn as she engaged first gear, a little more successfully than the previous time.

"Left hand down a bit, Mr Sulu," said Xander. "Engage warp engines."

"Aye aye Cap'n," said Andrew.

"Actually," said Giles loudly above the engine as it picked up revs, "that's not quite right."

"What? Have you changed your mind where we're going, Giles? Aren't we going to visit the Hellmouth in Cleveland?"

"Well, yes we are, but not in Ohio."

Conversation was suddenly suspended as everyone except the driver looked round at him in surprise.

"Not Ohio? But Cleveland's in Ohio, or it was when I last looked."

"Well, er, yes and no. I suggest we drive a few miles down the road, out of sight of the people at the gas station, and then we can stop and I'll tell you what I mean."

-----

"OK everyone. As I was about to say to Buffy several hours ago, when we were so rudely interrupted by the aftershock that incidentally persuaded us to let Dawn drive, I did indeed mention a Hellmouth in Cleveland, but I never said I meant the one in Ohio."

Everyone looked at him, waiting, ears flapping.

"There's another Cleveland?" Buffy said. Her surprise was obvious.

"There are a number of Clevelands," said Giles, "(or do I mean 'there **is** a number'?) Well anyway, I never actually said I was talking about your one, in Ohio." He paused and looked at his audience. "Where do you suppose they got the name, Cleveland, from in the first place?"

There wasn't an immediate answer. Then, at the back of his audience a hand went up. Everyone turned round to see. It was Bibi, the Buffybot.

"England," she said.

"Well of course she knows," Willow whispered to Kennedy. "She's probably got GPS fitted!"

"Shush! This is interesting! Sounds like Giles has a plan!"

"England. Exactly. Thank you, Bibi," said Giles.

"Er, where's England again?" someone asked.

"Just turn right at Greenland," said the Buffybot quietly, though clearly enough for everyone to hear her. There was a muffled snigger from somebody else, and a miffed-sounding "Huh!" from the original enquirer. International geography is not most Americans' strongest subject.

Giles waited patiently for them to settle down again, and then continued.

"Cleveland is an area in the North of England where there is a little town called Whitby. Whitby itself is quite a famous place. Anyone remember why? Er, except you please, Bibi. Sorry."

Everyone looked at him blankly.

"Oh, come on people, who do we know who lives, or lived in Whitby? He provided us with a delightfully entertaining and amusing little interlude just before the (thankfully now late) and (un)lamented Glory came on the scene. As did Dawn herself, of course!"

Again, blankness. Giles sighed. Again, a hand shot up at the back.

"OK, Hermione."

"The Count," said the Buffybot.

"Right. Thank you. And who was, or possibly we ought to say 'still is', the Count? Anyone? He owed Spike money, and I thought I would never hear the last of it after Buffy disposed of him!"

"Oh, oh, yes! Count Dracula!" someone exclaimed. "But I thought he was a fictional character out of some book!"

Xander shuddered, and murmured to himself, "No more flies for me please, Master."

"That's right - Count Dracula himself. He lives, if that's the right term for it, in Whitby, in the old County of Cleveland, in England."

"What was that about a debt, then?" Buffy asked, puzzled.

"Spike was owed eleven quid by him, if you remember. If nothing else we have a debt to collect in his memory. He was whinging on about it for days after you dealt with the Count. Don't you remember?"

"Pff! A lot's happened since then, Giles," Buffy said dismissively. "Been dead, been resurrected, and helped save the world again one or three times if I remember rightly. Busy, busy, busy!"

"Poor Buffy, her memory's not what it used to be - it used to be her sense of smell!" said Xander, and hastily shuffled backwards through the crowd and out of her reach.

"So what's the illustrious Count been up to since we last spoke?" Willow asked.

"Making trouble, what else? I thought we might take a little excursion to the old country, sort out the problem, do a bit of work re-establishing the New Council of Watchers, see the sights. That sort of thing." He looked round at them all. "What do you think, everyone?"

"Hey, road trip, people! What's not to like?" said Dawn, excitedly. "I want to see where Harry Potter lives!"

"Sounds fun to me," Kennedy said. "I could probably get my folks to put us all up at our Long Island summer place while we get the paperwork sorted - if you like, that is," she added.

"That's very generous of you, Kennedy. Are you sure they wouldn't mind?"

"Oh, you know me, the spoiled brat - I can usually get what I want, one way or another!" She winked at Willow. "Am I right, or am I right?"

Giles looked at the small group of Slayers and non-Slayers, Scoobies and ad-hoc Watchers.

"What do you think of the idea, ladies and gentlemen. Entirely up to you. Would you like to discuss it? Have a vote on it?"

People looked at each other for the very briefest of intervals. Then...

"Naa! Road trip!"

"Yay! Road trip, road trip, road trip!"

"So, Whitby, here we come!"

"Hey! First thing I want to do is visit a real English pub and try some of their famous warm English beer!"

"Oh, well, in that case I know the perfect place," said Giles with a smile. "It's a pub in East London, called 'The Prospect of Whitby'."

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THE END.

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AN:1. See my 1st story - "With A Little Help From My Friends".

AN:2. Here endeth also that series of stories known as 'THE LONG WAY ROUND'

AN:3. This story is followed by "Conversations In A Desert".

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Started 24/5/2006.Finished 21/2/2007


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